Big Payout in Drug Raid Killing of Ex-Marine

An Arizona county and several towns will pay big-time for the killing of homeowner Jose Guerena in a 2011 SWAT drug raid. The jurisdictions will pay $3.4 million to his widow to settle a lawsuit she filed after his death, the Associated Press reported last Thursday.

Jose Guerena

Guerena was gunned down in the hallway of his home by invading SWAT officers as he crouched defensively with an AR-15 in his hands. Five SWAT officers fired 72 shots at him, hitting him 22 times and killing him on the spot.

He had returned early that morning from working an overnight shift at the ASARCO mine, and was asleep in bed when his wife warned him that armed assailants were surrounding the house. He instructed his wife and four-year-old son to hide in a closet while he grabbed his rifle and went to confront the intruders. Police initially claimed he fired first, but that turned out not to be the case.

The case became a cause célèbre for critics of aggressive police tactics, even roiling the waters of the local Republican Party. A Google search for "Jose Guerena" now returns more than 62,000 hits.

His widow filed a $20 million lawsuit against Pima County and the towns of Marana, Sahuarita, and Oro Valley, all of which had officers on the SWAT team. She alleged that the SWAT team acted negligently throughout, beginning with the signing of the search warrant and extending to the period after Guerena was shot, when police left him lying on the floor for more than an hour before allowing medical treatment to begin.

Pima County prosecutors could find no fault with the raid or the SWAT team.

"Under the circumstances, and based upon our review of all the available evidence, we have concluded that the use of deadly force by the SWAT Team members was reasonable and justified under the law," ruled Pima County District Attorney Barbara LaWall. "Accordingly, the Pima County Attorney's Office finds no basis to prosecute," she concluded in her report.

good for the civil judgment. now we need for the voters in those communities to turn out the prosecutor and the police chiefs that launched this death squad. They are the ones who are actually paying the price for the shmucks that "did nothing wrong."

Homegrown terrorism, plain and simple. A government sponsored assassination squad. They went there to kill somebody, not enforce law. How often do criminals break into someone's home and kill them, not very often. How often does the government do it? Hundreds of times a day. American's are eight times more likely to be killed by their own government than in a terrorist attack, that's unacceptable. How do we define terrorism? We need to rethink who are the biggest threat to society, who the enemy of the people truly are. How is this different from terrorism? How is this not terrorism? This is not "law enforcement" that's for sure.

And, out of 72 shots fired at close range, 50 MISSED? Another fact not mentioned, what initiated the shooting was an "officers" "accidental" discharge of his weapon into the doorjamb, making the other idiots think they were being shot at. Jose never raised his weapon. And these murderers still walk the streets, armed.